It’s been 12 years since Blur’s “Think Tank.” Leader Damon Albarn kept busy during the long break with a variety of side projects, most notably the cartoonish hip-hop crew Gorillaz, while guitarist Graham Coxon issued solo albums of his own.

Now Blur is back with “The Magic Whip.”

Known mostly in the U.S. for “Song 2,” the song with the “woo hoo” chorus from its self-titled 1997 album, the British quartet’s 1990s battle with Oasis for Britpop hegemony truly is a distant memory. Less visceral than Oasis, Blur always was the more adventurous of the two — and that trend continues in 2015.

On “The Magic Whip,” recorded in Hong Kong, Blur oscillates between delightful, Kinks-influenced pop-rock such as “Lonesome Street,” and moodier, more atmospheric creations such as “Pyongyang.”

Interestingly, both sides of the coin make for fascinating listening, thanks to the group’s facility with melody and feel for creative arrangements.

Stephen Street’s superb production captures every detail of the band’s often intricate sound, especially the dreamlike qualities of tracks such as “Thought I Was a Spaceman” and “Mirrorball.”

The punchier pop of “I Broadcast,” “Ong Ong” and the lurching rock of “Go Out,” have an instant appeal, but the band’s more expansive numbers do have a hypnotic pull to them that makes them hard not to enjoy. “New World Towers,” for instance, pays attention to both sonic and lyrical detail to place the listener directly on a modern Hong Kong streetscape.

“The Magic Whip” is an intriguing and multifaceted work from a group capable of pulling off just about anything it attempts.